Gun owners and gun control groups, including families impacted by the Sandy Hook shooting, clashed at a tense hearing Wednesday in Hartford.

Connecticut lawmakers are considering a bill making it easier to sue manufacturers and sellers if firearms end up in the wrong hands.

Barbara Patrick had three kids in Newtown schools on Dec. 14, 2012 – the day a gunman killed 26 students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary.

“For an hour that morning, after receiving a call about a school shooting, there was no information,” she told lawmakers. “There’s no way to adequately describe the devastation of that day on our lives that continues to this day.”

Patrick urged lawmakers to support the Firearm Industry Responsibility Act. It would require manufacturers and sellers to use “reasonable controls” to keep guns, unfinished “ghost gun” parts, ammunition and magazines away from dangerous people.

Manufacturers could also face civil lawsuits for irresponsible marketing of firearms.

“If auto manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, or any other industry allowed their product to be so recklessly diverted into illegal markets, they would be held accountable. But today, in Connecticut, the firearm industry largely escapes scrutiny," said Connecticut Against Gun Violence executive director Earl Bloodworth. “Unlike virtually every other industry, firearm manufacturers and dealers operate under a unique shield of federal protection that makes it exceptionally difficult to hold bad faith actors in the firearms industry responsible.”

Nine Sandy Hook families struggled to sue Remington, the maker of the AR-15 rifle used in Newtown, because gun makers enjoy broad immunity under federal law.

The families reached a $73 million settlement after a judge allowed them to sue in state court under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Dozens of gun store owners and Second Amendment advocates packed the hearing too. They said the proposed bill is vague and will lead to a flood of frivolous lawsuits.

“How can a business be expected to predict every possible misuse of an item?” asked Joshua Serafino, owner of Lock N Load Firearms in Southington. “The real problem isn’t legal gun sales. It’s illegal gun trafficking, repeat offenders and a lack of law enforcement action against violent criminals.”

Retailers said they are already heavily regulated and often flag suspicious buyers for authorities.

“When somebody comes into our shop and even wants to look at a gun, they need to have proof that they have a Connecticut pistol permit,” said Matthew Fleisher, co-owner of Ron’s Guns in Old Lyme.

“The firearms industry is probably the most regulated of any retail industry. As we’ve already heard testimony today, the background checks et cetera, ATF inspections unannounced," said Tom Maloney, with the Connecticut Citizens Defense League.

Republicans accused gun control groups of trying to drive gun sellers, which pay $5 million in annual sales taxes, out of business.

“This legislation is aimed at running those businesses out of this state and driving up their insurance costs, because everything else is already addressed in statute,” said state Rep. Greg Howard (R-Stonington), a veteran police officer. “The laws that we currently have on the books already prevent those sort of illegal sales--straw purchases, illegal transfers of firearms.”

The bill is likely to undergo changes when, and if, it gets a vote. The legislature's Judiciary Committee has one month to act on it.

You can submit written testimony HERE.